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40th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL,, MARCH 8, 1900. 



No, 10, 



Bee-Keeping in Almost a Perpetual Summepland 



BY W. O. VICTOR. 



WELL might I say that this is a land of perpetual sum- 

 mer, if I am to judge from present indications, for 

 to-day, (Jan. S), I have near my window a peach-tree 

 almost in full bloom, and a little further on I see the water- 

 elm and Cottonwood looking as if to-morrow I might hear 

 the busy hum of the bees among their branches. In the 

 apiary I see a bos-elder 

 with beautiful green fo- 

 liage and large bunches 

 of fresh-looking white 

 flowers. 



There has not been 

 a week this winter that 

 the bees have not gath- 

 ered more or less pol- 

 len ; this, however, I do 

 not consider an advan- 

 tage in every respect, 

 as it causes brood-rear- 

 ing at a season when 

 the bees should be 

 quiet. Altho ice has 

 been almost a n un- 

 known thing with us 

 this winter, we some- 

 times have sudden 

 changes, with low tem- 

 perature, which con- 

 fines the bees to the 

 hives for several weeks 

 at a time ; and we lose 

 heavily by their not 

 being in a condition 

 for this long confine- 

 ment. 



At this time my bees have considerable brood 



A Snowbound Out-Apiary in Texas. 



and 

 should the weather continue pleasant I will soon have hives 

 overflowing with bees, and, I might say, consuming tons of 

 honey, when they should be just beginning to rear brood 

 for the spring harvest. However, I do not expect a contin- 

 uance of springlike weather, tho we may expect enough of 

 it to carry the elm and Cottonwood to full bloom in February. 

 Speaking of perpetual summer brings to my mind Mr. 

 C Theilmann, of Minnesota, whom we all know to be 

 worthy of a warm place in our hearts, and a remark he made 

 at a meeting of the South Texas Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 Dec. 27, 1894, when the temperature dropt from summer to 



a few degrees above zero, mention of which he has made. 

 He said he had read a great deal of the perpetual summer of 

 the Sunny South, and he had come down to see if he could 

 not see some of the other side of the question, and thought 

 he had come at just the right time ! 



As I do not want to go on record as saying we have per- 

 petual summer in the " Beautiful Sunny South," 1 will see 

 if I cannot show a genuine winter scene. 



I send you a photograph of the " River Ranch " (as the 

 boys call it) four miles below town, on the bank of the Col- 

 orado river. The snow shown in the picture began falling 

 Feb. 13, 1895, and continued thru the 14th, the average 

 depth being 18 inches. The photograph was taken Feb. 16, 

 when the snow had melted to a considerable extent. The 

 "stump" in the foreground, with "moss" on each side 

 toward the top, is your humble servant. "Tom" and 

 " Rose " in the background have seen many years with the 

 bees ; on this occasion they drew a rudely constructed sled, 

 carrying the photographer and myself. 



On the 17th I went 

 down with a load of 

 lumber to build a 

 honey - house. I had 

 been using a tent pre- 

 vious to this. On ar- 

 riving at the apiary I 

 discovered that depre- 

 dations that had been 

 going on all winter had 

 been repeated. I fol- 

 lowed the tracks to the 

 hive that had been 

 robbed ; by it in the 

 snow I could see the 

 print of a butket. Hav- 

 ing secured his booty, 

 the thief took himself 

 oflf in an opposite di- 

 rection frpm which he 

 came. I determined to 

 make good the oppor- 

 tunity the snow af- 

 forded, and followed 

 the tracks ; they soon 

 bore to the left and 

 came around to the side 

 whence they came, fol- 

 lowing the same trail 

 for quite a while, and, to my great surprise, I came to two 

 sets of tracks. I luckily decided to follow the right hand 

 set first ; they soon circled back, and the thief for a short 

 time doubled on his tracks, evidently to throw me off, should 

 I happen to visit the apiary before the snow was gone. I 

 continued my search, and ere long the trail brought me to 

 a Mexican woodchoppers' camp. 



The following morning I returned with an officer and 

 necessary papers, and we found in their tent the bucket of 

 honey with comb foundation (fishbone) in it, said to have 

 come from a tree. 



We took five Mexicans to jail, and after detaining them 



